Portantino's bill aims to make utilities better prepared for disasters

For Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, who was among those left without power during last year's fierce windstorm, requiring utilities to be better prepared for emergencies is a no-brainer.

Portantino, D-Pasadena, introduced a bill last week that requires the California Public Utilities Commission to establish additional standards for utilities' emergency preparedness plans, including using weather reports to position manpower and equipment before a storm.

State Assembly Bill 1650 would also require investor-owned gas and electric companies to meet and consult with county and city officials in their service area every two years to discuss their disaster and emergency preparedness plans.

"It's all about having a common sense periodic dialogue (with utilities) but with teeth and oversight," Portantino said.

An early probe by PUC investigators into Southern California Edison's windstorm response found the utility violated safety standards regarding pole loading, that power-restoration time was inadequate and the company's emergency procedures were outdated.

The Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 windstorm downed hundreds of power poles, thousands of trees and caused more than $34 million in public sector damages in the Los Angeles County area. Nearly 440,000 Edison customers were affected by wind-related outages, some for up to a week.

PUC spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said Tuesday that agency is finalizing its analysis of the proposed bill "and will be voting on a position at the next voting meeting," which will be held on March 8 in San Francisco.

The PUC currently requires utilities to prepare an emergency response plan and update it annually, conduct annual emergency training and exercises using their emergency response plan and coordinate emergency plans with state and local public safety agencies.

Portantino said the bill would allow the public to see and provide input on what the utilities' plans are and how they are updating their approaches with advances in technology.

Since a percentage of the rate is supposed to go to disaster preparedness, "it's not a fiscal issue," Portantino said. "It's a review and accountability issue."

While city-owned utilities report to their city councils, investor-owned utilities "really don't report to anybody on the local level," he said.

Edison spokeswoman Veronica Gutierrez said the utility is still reviewing the wording of the bill. The utility, she said, does reach out to city officials and first responders annually at its four distribution operations centers, which serve as headquarters for storm response, to discuss emergency procedures.

In addition, since the windstorm, Edison has solicited input from city officials and members of the public about their response.

"Whatever we put in place, we want to make sure will actually work with the input with whom we would partner most closely," Gutierrez said.

Portantino, however, argued that utilities such as Edison "don't do anything to that level" of "substantive" public review the bill would require.

According to the bill, the PUC's emergency preparedness standards would also include methods of improving communications between government agencies and the public along with methods of working to control an emergency or disaster and its after-effects.

Disaster plans would be required to address recent emergencies and disasters associated with utilities as well as remedial actions for future ones, the bill states.